For Women’s Lives and Against McCarthyism:A Response to “United Statement in Opposition to Stop Patriarchy”

As members of the Advisory Board of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas, we strongly reject the recent ad-hominem and McCarthyite attacks and accusations leveled at the Ride and at Stop Patriarchy as unfounded and untrue. We appreciate the comments of clinic owner Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Health in Mississippi, as quoted in the Dallas Observer:“‘We became far too reliant upon courts to maintain the status quo, while our enemy is in the trenches with these churches raising money, raising time, electing people. Am I a communist? Absolutely not. Do I care whether someone else is? No.’ She adds: ‘I think it’s time starting thinking outside the box, because what we’ve been doing has not been working.’”The reasons and goals for the Ride are clearly spelled out on StopPatriarchy.org and we stand by them. Reproductive rights in this country are under increasing attack and fast disappearing, leaving thousands of women and girls without access to reproductive care.With so much on the line and the responsibility of ensuring reproductive justice for women in this country, we believe diverse ways of fighting back are necessary. Many people and groups are doing important work to address the current emergency and we applaud them. We invite anyone to join the Ride in person, or to support it in the various ways described on the website. All points of view and affiliations are welcome, no loyalty oaths are required, the only requirement is a commitment to reproductive justice!

Signed by members of the Advisory Board, Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas:Diane Derzis, Owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the last abortion clinic in MississippiCarol Downer, Co-Founder of the Feminist Women’s Health Center which began doing abortions in 1971Merle Hoffman, CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center which began doing abortions in 1971Wendy Robinson, Director, Voice of ChoiceMary Lou Singleton, licensed midwife and nurse practitioner, Founder, Personhood for WomenSunsara Taylor, Revolution newspaper, Stop PatriarchyNote: To learn about the actual track record and achievements of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride in the past, click here. To read “A Response to Recent Attacks and Invitation to All from the Advisory Board of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas,” click here.

A Response to Recent Attacks and Invitation to All from the Advisory Board of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas

For decades, we have struggled to provide and defend abortion services to women because without the right to decide for themselves when and whether to bear children women can not be full participants in society . For decades, we have watched as yesterday’s outrage became today’s “compromise position” and tomorrow’s limit of what can be imagined. Yet never has the threat to women’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom been so great. The crisis is upon us and each day it worsens.

For too long our side has been forced into defensive battles, responding to attacks in the courts and the electoral arena and public education and struggling to keep services open to women on ever shrinking ground.

Courageous abortion providers and escorts are working tirelessly to keep abortion available to women. We salute these efforts. At the same time, we must all soberly confront the truth: much more is needed.

We are involved with the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas because we support its three overarching goals:

Forge a national strategic counter-offensive.

Radically reset the political, moral, and ideological terms of this fight so that millions understand that this fight is about women’s liberation or women’s enslavement.

Mobilize all people of conscience to wage massive, independent, political resistance. Relying mainly on politicians, and the courts, has not halted the barrage of attacks.

The Ride has plans to hold nationally webcast public speak outs (modeled on the Speak Outs held in April of this year, click here to watch: webcastwith Merle Hoffman, Dr. Willie Parker, Marge Piercy, David Gunn, Jr., Bill Baird, Sunsara Taylor, Rev. Donna Schaper, Louis Bernikow, pre-Roe testimony, provider testimony, etc.]) which bring alive the stories of women denied the right to abortion and brings together public figures to sound the alarm and as it mobilizes dramatic non-violent protests to directly confront those spearheading this assault on women.

Given the tremendous stakes of the moment, we welcome and encourage open, principled, debate over the way forward. Unfortunately, some have chosen to attack – even coining the hashtag #FuckStopPatriarchy, campaigning to keep people from working with or donating to the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride, and spreading distrust and division.

We condemn this. In responding, we seek not only to address some of the particular accusations but to set an example for the kind of open and principled political debate that is not only healthy but necessary.

There are no “outsiders” in the struggle for women’s liberation. Some accuse the ARFR of being “outsiders” who should stay out of Texas. But the assault to deprive women of abortion rights is not a “local issue” and what happens in any one place will affect women everywhere. This is a global and national war, one particular theater of which happens to be in Texas right now. All of us have a responsibility to play our part in taking this fight on wherever it is most concentrated.

This is a Freedom Ride moment. What is at stake today is whether women, half of society, will be forced into a legal status that is less than fully human. Some have accused the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride of “appropriating” the legacy of the Civil Rights movement. This is absurd. We lay no claim to “owning” this legacy, who even thinks that way? We draw inspiration from the original Freedom Riders both for their moral courage and because they dared to challenge what most people thought had to be accepted as “just the way things are.”

Forced Motherhood IS Female Enslavement. Being forced to have a child against one’s will is the forcible control by a male-supremacist state, church, and/or man over the very physical autonomy and life course of a woman. It reduces women to property. There is a legitimate history of legal scholars, court challenges, and abortion rights leaders including Merle Hoffman arguing for years that instead of being granted based on the “right to privacy” as it was in Roe vs. Wade, the right abortion should have been based on the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude. Even Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave credence to this argument when asked about it by Hoffman several years ago.

Seeking to drive sincere forces out of the movement is destructive and has no place in a liberation struggle. With so much at stake how could there not be differences in how to understand the situation and how to approach it? What could be more important than openly airing those differences so that everyone can learn? We ourselves hold very different political views and have many robust arguments; this is a strength that enables us to unite ever more firmly and broadly in this urgent fight for women’s lives. In contrast, attempts to create a situation where sincere forces and legitimate political views are rendered “beyond the pale” and “personas non grata” is wrong and very damaging. It demoralizes and weakens our side, creates an atmosphere of distrust, serves those who hate women, and obscures the actual and important differences of substance and approach. Over decades, we have seen the damage this can do and feel responsible to share the lessons we have learned.

In conclusion, we reiterate our commitment to the future and lives of women everywhere. The Abortion Rights Freedom Ride has no mission other than to defend women’s lives and freedoms. We call on everyone across this country to join with us at this most critical hour in whatever way you can to become a Freedom Rider for women’s lives.

Who is stop patriarchy?

Stop Patriarchy is a group for everyone who wants to FIGHT to STOP the enslavement of women. Not politely lobby against it. Not grumble at the TV. Not simply post things on Twitter. And definitely not sit around waiting for those in power to “come to their senses.” It is also a movement for everyone who can be won to see the need for this – we are fighting aggressively to change minds and to grow and deepen and escalate until we succeed in changing everything. JOIN US!